In the case of Charleston Mining Company v. United States, 1926, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S. government regarding a dispute over coal mining rights on federal land. The Charleston Mining Company had argued that they held exclusive rights to mine coal under an 1865 law which allowed private companies to claim mineral rights on public lands if they discovered and developed them first. However, this was contradicted by an 1873 act that reserved all such minerals for the government unless explicitly sold or granted away. The court found that while there were ambiguities between these two laws, it was clear from their legislative history and subsequent amendments that Congress intended to retain control over valuable resources like coal on public lands as much as possible. Therefore, any grants of mineral rights would have been made with strict limitations and conditions attached. This decision affirmed a lower court ruling which had ordered Charleston Mining Company to pay royalties owed for its extraction activities since 1909 when it began operations without obtaining proper authorization from federal authorities.

In the dissenting opinion for Charleston Mining Company v. United States, it was argued that the government did not have a right to royalties from coal mined on leased tribal lands. The dissenting justices believed that the Osage Tribe had been granted full ownership of their land and mineral rights by Congress in 1906, and thus any lease agreements were between private entities - namely, the tribe and mining companies - rather than involving federal interests. They contended that this interpretation was supported by both legislative intent and previous court rulings which recognized Native American tribes as distinct political communities with inherent sovereignty over their territories. Therefore, they disagreed with majority's view that such leases required approval from Secretary of Interior or involved payment of royalties to U.S Government under terms set out in Act of 1891 applicable generally to public lands containing coal deposits.